Crankshaft arrangement in a multicylinder upsilon-type piston machine



March 25, 1952 F. VAN WEENEN 2,590,662

CRANKSHAFT ARRANGEMENT IN A MULTICYLINDER V TYPE PISTON MACHINE Filed Jan. 22, 1948 2 SHEETS-SHEET 1 INVEN TOR. 124N656 [/5 12411143537115 WMQHZHV AGENZ 2,590,662 NDER Marcus, 1952 F. VAN WEENEN CRANKSHAFT ARRANGEMENT IN A MULTICYLI V TYPE PISTON MACHINE 2 SHEETS-SHEET 2 Filed Jan. 22, 1948 INVENTO-R. JMNCLS'CMYZAMBERTUJWW Patented Mar. 25, 1952 CRANKHSHAFT ARRANGEMENT IN A MULTI- CYLINDER V-TYPE PISTON MACHINE Franciscus Lambertus van Weenen, Eindhoven, Netherlands, assignor to Hartford National Bank and Trust Company, Hartford, Conn., as

trustee Application January 22, 1948, Serial No. 3,715 In the Netherlands February 14, 1947 comparatively much room but also that the cenhe of gravity of such a machine will liehigh. Apart'from the fact whether the crank shaft is mountedin the upper or in the lower part of the machine, such a machine has a great overall height, more particularly if it is double-acting the'piston rods are required.

"The present invention has for itsobject-to provid'e means which, withdouble-acting multi- 1 cylinder piston-machines in the shape of a V, permit of giving such a machinesmaller dimensions.

According tothe invention, a multi-cylinder piston machine in which the centre lines of the cylinders are located in two planes which. enclose a V and the intersecting line of which is parallel to the centre line of the crank shaft of the machine, is constructed in such manner that the centre line of the crank shaft is located between the planes which form together the V,.

and this at distance from the intersecting line of theseplanes which is at least 0.5 times and at the most 2gtimes, preferably at the most 1.5

times, the distance between the said intersectingv line and the-point of intersection of the inner side of that tcpcover of one of the cylinders of the machine which is remotest from the said intersecting line and the corresponding cylinder. As a rule all the top covers of the centre line. cylinders of the machine are located at the same distance from the said intersecting line, in which event'it is immaterial which of the top covers of" the cylinders is considered for determining that distance.

Owing- 190 the arrangement of the cylinders with respect to the crank shaft in themachine according to the invention, the driving mechanism between each of the pistons movable in the cylinders and the crank shaft becomes, as it were,

6 Claims. (01. 6024) top cover of one of the cylinders of the machine which is remotest. from that intersecting line, we obtain, apart from the further advantages, a machine of compacter construction than that, of the known double-acting machines. The constructional compactness of the machine becomes, of course, still greater by taking for the abovementioned maximum distance a still smaller value, for example a value less than 1.5 times the said distancein which event the crank shaft will lie, as it were, in between the cylinders. On the other hand, this distance must not be made too small, for in that case not onlyis the advantage of compactness of the machine lost but also it is diflicult to accommodate the crank shaft of the engine between the planes enclosing the V.

Owing to the kinked construction of the driving. mechanism, the ratio between the lengths of crank and connecting rod may become, with a given overall height of the machine, considerably -more favourable than in the conventional construction. This offers the advantage that the influence of the finite length of the connecting rod (which influence is harmful in itself) becomes less prominent. Thus, for example, while maintaining a compact construction of the machine, it is possible to realize with simple expedient a ratio of 6 or more between the lengths of connecting rod and crank.

According to a further embodiment of the machine according to the invention, the centre line of the crank shaft is located in the bisector plane of the planes enclosing together the V, owing to which a symmetrical construction of the machine is obtained, which is advantageous in view of the regular running of the engine.

On account of the fact that the connections between the pitsons and the crank shaft are kinked, steps must be taken for coupling .the

'kinked; By making the distance between the centre line ofthe crank shaft and the intersect ing line Of' the-planes which together enclose a V; at the most doublethe distance'between. the said intersecting line and the inner side of that in a simple manner.

about a fixed shaft and which guides each of the connections between the pistons. and the 3 about a fixed shaft, comprises two further pivots. These three pivots are located in a triangle whilst one Of the pivots not rotatable about a fixed shaft is rotatably connected to one of the parts of the connection between piston and crank shaft whereas the other not rotatable about a fixed shaft is rotatably connected to the other part that connection.

The rotary motion performed by this guiding member about its fixed shaft introduces in general a slight lateral deflection in the reciprocating motions of the two parts of the connecting rod. In order to minimize this lateral movement as far as possible and thus to cause a minimum of irregularities in the rotary motion of the crank shaft, it is advisable, according to one advantageous embodiment of the invention, that the angle between the lines passing through the fixed pivot and the two movable pivots of the guiding member should correspond to half the angle between the planes comprising the centre lines of the cylinders, the fixed pivot of the guiding member being located in such manner that in the mid-position of a piston in any of the cylinders the legs of the angle formed between the lines passing through the fixed pivot and each of the movable pivots of the guiding member corresponding to that piston are, at least approximately, perpendicular to the legs of the angle formed by the corresponding cylinder centre line and the bisector plane of the planes comprising the cylinder centre lines.

According to the invention, since, more particularly owing to the use of the above-mentioned guiding member, the lateral movement of that end of the connecting rod portion secured to this piston, which is remote from each of the pistons, is only slight, the connection between each piston and the corresponding guidingmember may be made resilient (more particularly, use may be made of a resilient element), which creates the possibility of avoiding a point of articulation.

The machine according to the invention offers the possibility that in operation the tip of the V formed by the planes comprising the cylinder centre lines is directed upwards whereas the legs point downwards, owing to which a construction is obtained with which the centre of gravity lies low so that such a machine exhibits great stability. Moreover, with a machine constructed as a hot gas engine the burners may thus be arranged below the cylinders, which is advantageous in connection with the natural direction of the flame of the burners and the easy control andsupervision of the latter.

The machine according to the invention is particularly suitable for being constructed as a double-acting hot gas reciprocating engine, i. e. an engine with which in each of a number of closed chambers a certain quantity of gas such as air is compressed and enabled to expand alternately and at mutually different temperatures the supply and dissipation of caloric energy taking place through the wall of the engine. If expansion takes place at a higher temperature than compression, such a machine is capable of converting caloric energy into mechanical energy. One example thereof is the so-called hot air engine.

If, on the contrary, compression takes place at a" higher temperature than expansion, such a machine converts mechanical energy into caloric energy and may be used as a cooling-machine (refrigerator), a heat pump or the like. The construction according to the invention is so suitable for this application just because it per-.

mits of arranging the cylinders close to one another, so that the clearances formed by the connecting channels may be kept small and consequently also the capacity of these chambers may exhibit the same value for each of the cycles. The invention will be explained more fully with reference to the accompanying drawings which represent a machine according to the invention constructed as a double-acting four-cycle fourcylinder hot gas reciprocating engine.

Fig. 1 represents one embodiment of the engine according to the invention in a cross-section taken according to a plane passing through the centre line X-X of a cylinder Ill at right angles to the centre line of the crank shaft of the engine. This figure further shows a view of an engine cylinder [2 and of the driving gear of these two cylinders, the driving gear of cylinder I0 being shown in the drawing in front of the driving gear of cylinder l2.

Fig. 2 represents a plan viewofthe engine,

'the driving gear of the engine (except the crank shaft) being omitted for the sake of clearness. In this diagrammatic figure are visible'the four, cylinders of the engine without the appurtenant heating and cooling devices but with the connecting channels between these cylinders and with the fixed pivots of the guiding members.

Fig. 3 represents diagrammatically on an enlarged scale that part of the driving mechanism which'pertains to the cylinders H) and I2, some dimensions of the engine being also given. Also in this figure the cylinder in is shown in a section taken through its centre line XX in a plane at right angles to the centre line of a crank shaft K.

The engine shown comprises four cylinders II], II, [2 and I3. The centre lines of these cylinders are located in two planes in such:manner that the centre lines XX and XIXI are located in one plane and'the centre lines XIIXII and XIII-XIII in the other plane. In Fig. 3 the intersecting point of the intersecting line of these planes (this line being parallel to the centre line of the crank shaft K of the-engine) with the plane of the drawing is designated T. The position of the planes comprising the centre lines appears more particularly from Fig. 3 in which they are designated XX and XII-XII. These planes enclose together av; in Fig. 3=.the angle comprised between'these planes is .des'ignated a.

According to the invention, the centre line of.

the crank shaft K is located between the planes X'X and XIIXII at a distance from T which intersecting points of the centre lines X -X and XII of the cylinders llland- I2 with the top' covers are designated Hill] and I2), the above-men-' tioned distance is designated q. According to the invention, the distance r betweenK and-T is less than 2g and more than q:2. In the confstruction according to the invention r isapproximately 0.8g.

As may be seen from Figures 1 and 3, aparticularly compact construction of the engine according to the invention is thus obtainedjw st yet the ratio between the lengths of crankand connecting rod is very favourable. heieng'm of the connecting rod pertaining to cylinder II) is indicated here by the line CD whilst the length of the crank is indicated by DK. In the construction shown the ratio crank-connecting rod is approximately 1:10. A denotes the point of application of a piston rod 101 I in a straight-line guide 1012 of a piston 1013. B is the point at which the piston rod 1011 is rotatably secured to a guiding member 1014. C denotes the point at which a connecting rod I015, pertaining to the piston 1013, is rotatably secured to the guiding member 1014 whilst D denotes the point at which the connecting rod 1015 is secured to a crank 101B seated on the crank shaft K. The guiding member 1014 itself, which has herethe shape of a rigid triangle, is rotatable about a fixed point 11111 which, for example, forms part of the engine frame.

A piston I213 movable in cylinder 12 is secured in a similar manner to a crank I216 mounted on the crank shaft K and pertaining to the said piston. To that end a piston rod 1211, which is connected at E. to the straight-line guide 1212 of the piston 1213, is rotatably secured at the point F to a guiding member 1214 which is rotatable about a fixed point 1211. A connecting rod I215, pertaining to the piston I213, is. rotatably secured at G to the guide 1214 and at H to the crank 1216 mounted on the crank shaft K.

The pistons (not shown) in the cylinders 11 and 13 are secured in a similar manner to ap-' purtenant cranks 1116 and 1316 on the crank shaft, said cranks being shown in Fig. 2. This figure further represents diagrammatically the fixed pivots III! and 1311 to which the guiding members pertaining to the cylinders 11 and 13 are secured.

If the machine is const'tucted as a hot gas engine, the construction according the invention .offers the further advantage that the connecting rods are primarily subjected to a tensile stress, so

that comparatively light connecting rods suffice.

Concerning the movement of the connection between each piston and the appurtenant crank mounted on the crank shaft, the following may be observed with reference to Fig. 2.

Considering in this figure the connection between the piston 10 I 3 and the appurtenant crank 1016 on the crank shaft K, it appears that, owing to the rotary motion performed by the guide 1014.

about the fixed point 1011, the points B and C of this guide also perform a rotary motion around that point. Since the connecting rod 1015 is rotatably secured to the crank 1016, the rotary motion of the point C around the point of articulation 11111 of the guide 1014 offers no difficulties. The point B of the guide 1014 also rotates about the" pivot 1011 of the guide 1014, which implies that during the up-and-down movement of the piston 1013 in cylinder 10 the upper end of the piston rod 1011 must be able to perform a slight reciprocating movement in lateral direction, which deflection is denoted in Fig. 3 by b. It would be possible to enable the piston rod 101 I to perform this deflection by articulating the low or end of the piston rod 101 I in some way or other to the piston 1013. According to the present invention, however, in order to avoid diflicult accessibility of this point of articulation, it is preferred to provide a partly resilient connection I this purpose the piston rods 11118 and 1218 are ing the thinned at one end and are thus made resilient.

In order to maintain the transmission of movement between each of the pistons and the cranks as uniform as possible, the centre line of the crank shaft K is located in the bisector plane Z'--Z between the planes XX and XII-XII which together enclose the V. For the same purpose the angles F-I2II-G of the uide 1214, B-IIIII-C of the guide 1014 and the corresponding angles of the guides pertaining to the cylinsector plane. Thus, for example, with the piston 1013, which is shown in its mid-position, the line 1011-13 on the guide 1014 is perpendicular to the centre line XX of cylinder 13, the line IBII-C being perpendicular to the bisector' plane vZ----Z. The paths described by the movable pivots. durrotation of the guiding members are shown. in Fig. 3. Thus, for example, the movable pivots B, C and F, G of the guides 1014 and 1214 respectively describe paths b, c and f, 9 respectively.

The piston machine shown in the drawing. is constructed here as a double-acting hot gas engine, in which four separated cycles take-place. With this engine the phase-shift desired for each cycle between the piston surfaces'which influence the volume of a cycle, is obtained owing to.v the fact that the said piston surfaces form part of two pistons each of which is coupled to the crank shaft by means of a separate crank, which cranks together enclose an angle. Each cycle takes place in parts of two cylinders; these chambers communicate with one another by means of a connecting channel, these channels being denoted in the drawings by 14, I5, 16 and 11.

Each cylinder is constructed in the manner which is going to be described for cylinder 10'. A

liner [020, acting as the running surface for piston 1013, is concentrically arranged within and at some distance from the wall 10 I 9 of cylinder 10. The piston I013 .moves. in a gas-tight manner over this liner so that the two chambers on either side of the piston do not communicate with one another. The liner bears in a gas-tight manner against a cover 11121 of the cylinder, which cover is located on the crank side of the cylinder. Between the other end of the liner 1021] and the top cover 1022 there is, however, a slit-shaped aperture 1023 by means of which the chamber formed between the piston 1013 and the cylinder cover 1022 on the one hand and the chamber formed between the cylinder liner 1020 and the wall 1019 of the cylinder on the other hand are in open communication with one another. In the lastmentioned chambers are arranged a heater 1024, a regenerator 1025 and a cooler I026. The chamber above the cooler I026 communicates here, through a channelld, with the chamber formed in cylinder 12 above the piston 12 I 3.

With the other cylinders each of the chambers below the piston movable in the cylindrical communicates, via a heater, a regenerator, a cooler and a connecting channel, with the chamber present above the piston in the following cylinder. "In the engine there are thusobtained four chambers which are separated from one another and in whichowing-to the supply and'the dissipation of caloric energy at points suitable therefor and owing to the variation of the capacity of the said chambers four hot-gas engine cycles may take place in a suitable manner. The phaseshifted movements of the pistons pertaining to one cycle cause alternately compression and expansion of the medium pertaining to that cycle. If compression of the gas takes place at a low temperature and expansion at a high temperature, the machine is capable of converting caloric energy into mechanical energy; it thus acts as a proper engine. If, on the contrary, compression takes place at a higher temperature than expansion, the machine is capable of converting mechanical energy into caloric energy and it may therefore be used as a heat pump or a cooling machine or refrigerator.

The construction according to the invention may, of course, be usednot only for a hot gas engine'or a refrigerator operating on the inverted hot gas engine principle but also in other doubleacting machines. Notwithstanding the straightline guides of the pistons, which are necessary due to the double-acting construction of the engine, yet, in addition to a construction of small dimensions, a very favourable ratio between the lengths of connecting rod and of crank is obtained.

In the machine according to the invention the straight-line guides of the pistons are formed by hollow projections on the pistons, which projections are guided in the crank cover of each of the cylinders. The piston rods are rigidly secured in these hollow projections with the interposition'of the previously described resilient elements The machine according to the invention comprises, of course, a frame which supports all the component parts, this frame being, however, omitted from the drawing for the sake of simplicity. The heating and cooling devices for the cylinders are also omitted; the supply and dissipation of caloric energy is diagrammatically indicated by arrows.

It appears from the drawings, that by following the procedure of the invention a machine of very small dimensions may be obtained. Furthermore, owing to the fact that the cylinders are located below the crank shaft, the engine has a low-lying centre of gravity.

- What I claim is:

1. In a double-acting multi-cylinder piston machine having the center lines of the cylinders thereof located in two planes which intersect to form a V, each of said cylinders having top and bottom closure members and a piston therein; a crankshaft positioned parallel to the line of intersection of said two planes and located within the region defined between the arms of said V at a distance from said line of intersection which is from 0.5 to 2.0 times the distance between said line of intersection and the point of intersection of one of said center lines with'the inner portion of the corresponding one of said closure members most remote from said line of intersection, and a plurality of separate means each coupling one of said pistons to said crankshaft, each of said separate means comprising a piston rod and a connecting rod in acutely angled relationship to each other. r

2. In a double-acting multi-cylinder piston machine-having the center lines of the cylinders thereof located in two planes which intersect to form a V, each of said cylinders having top and bottom closure members and a piston therein; a

crankshaft comprising a plurality of cranks, said crankshaft being positioned parallel to the line of intersection of said two planes and located within the region defined between the arms of said V at a distance from said line of intersection which is from, 0.5 to 2.0 times the distance between said line of intersection and the point of intersection of one of said center lines with the inner portion of the corresponding one of said closure members most remote from said line of intersection, and a plurality of separate means each coupling one of said pistons to a corresponding one of said cranks of said crankshaft, each of said separate means comprising a piston rod and a connecting rod in acutely angled relationship to each other, the ratio of the lengths of each of said connecting rods and a corresponding one of said cranks being at least 6:1.

3. In a double-acting multi-cylinder piston machine having the center lines of the cylinders thereof located in two planes which intersect at a predetermined angle to form a V, each of said cylinders having top and bottom closure members and a piston therein; a crankshaft positioned parallel to the line of intersection of said two planes and located within the region defined between the arms of said V- at a distance from said line of intersection which is from 0.5 to 2.0 times the distance between said line of intersection and the point of intersection of one of said center lines with the inner portion of the corresponding one of said closure members most remote from said line of intersection, and a plurality of separate means each coupling one of said pistons to said crankshaft, each of said separate means comprising a piston rod, a connecting rod in acutely angled relationship to said piston rod, a guiding member mounted on a fixed pivot, said piston rod and said connecting rod each being separately and pivotally connected to said guid ing member, said fixed pivot and separate pivotal connections being arranged so the lines passing through said fixed pivot to each of said separate pivotal connections enclose an angle which corresponds to half said predetermined angle between said two planes, and said fixed pivot being so located that in the mid-position of the one of said pistons operatively associated therewith, said each of said last-named lines is approximately perpendicular to the legs of the angle formed by a said center line of a said cylinder and the line formed by the bisector of said predetermined angle.

4. In a double-acting multi-cylinder piston machine having the center lines of the cylinders thereof located in two planes which intersect to form a V, each of said cylinders having top and bottom closure members and a piston therein; a crankshaft positioned parallel to the line of intersection of said two planes and located within the region defined between the arms of said V at a distance from said line of intersection which is from 0.5 to 2.0 times the distance between said line of intersection and the point of intersection of one of said center lines with the inner portion of the corresponding one of said closure-members most remote from said line of intersection, and a plurality of separate means each coupling one of said pistons to-said crankshaft, each of said separate means comprising a piston rod, a con-- necting rod in acutely angled relationship to said piston rod and a guiding member mounted on a fixed pivot, said piston rod and said connecting rod each being separately and pivotally connected to said guiding member, said piston rod comprising a resilient portion.

5. In a double-acting multi-cylinder piston machine having the center lines of the cylinders thereof located in two planes which intersect to form an inverted V, each of said cylinders having top and bottom closure members and.

a piston therein; a crankshaft positioned parallel to the line of intersection of said two planes and located within the region defined between the arms of said inverted V at a distance from said line of intersection which is from 0.5 to 2.0 times the distance between said line of intersection and the point of intersection of one of said center lines with the inner portion of the corresponding one of said bottom closure members, and a plurality of separate means each coupling one of said pistons to said crankshaft, each of said separate means comprising a piston rod and a connecting rod in acutely angled relationship to each other.

6. In a double-acting multi-cylinder piston machine having the center lines of the cylinders thereof located in two planes which intersect to form an inverted V, each of said cylinders 26 having top and bottom closure members and a piston therein defining a hot chamber and a cold chamber at the bottom and top regions of said cylinders, respectively; a crankshaft positioned 10 parallel to the line of intersection of said two planes and located within the region defined between the arms of said inverted V at a distance from said line of intersection which is from 0.5

"to 2.0 times the distance between said line of :to a said cold chamber of another of said cylin- .ders, said conduit meansat least in part passing between adjacent connecting rods. FRANCISCUS LAMBERTUS VAN REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTs Number Name Date 463,758 Lemon Nov. 24, 1891 497,171 Dumke May 9, 1893 1,615,895 Wercely Feb. 1, 1927 1,625,835

Sutton et al Apr. 26, 1927 

